CH 22.3

After Count Ezrada returned, Lila went to Michael, while Lucas remained in the guest room to face Raphael.

As they sipped their tea in silence, Raphael spoke up.

“So, do you have a plan?”

The only thing that made the ducal family regret their lack of royal connections was the potion they had to take during the heat.

Other than that, the Duchy had the resources to take on the Emperor, but that one weakness had forced him to bow to the Emperor’s every word until now.

It was bad enough to drink the potion when he was in heat, but the thought of not having it made him dizzy.

Lucas snorted when Raphael asked if he had a plan for that.

“No way, I wouldn’t do this without a plan.”

“……You’ve been able to brew that potion.”

Raphael, sitting up straight from his comfortable position, urged his son on with a gleam of amusement in his eye.

Lucas remembered the pill Lila had given him. After he’d taken them, any remaining heat had disappeared.

Of course, Lila herself was the main reason he’d made it through his estrus, but the pill had taken away any residual heat.

After bringing the pill to Nick, the reports were promising. Although it was a little annoying to have to deal with Nick’s intense interest in the pills, the results were very successful.

“We haven’t confirmed it yet, but…….”

Raphael’s face hardened at the vagueness of the reply, which he assumed would be positive.

His next words, however, caused him to lose sight of the teacup he was holding.

“Analytically, it’s proven to be more effective than the original potion. Though the final verification will come when I drink it myself.”

Dark black tea splashed across the carpet. Raphael stood as still as a stone, unable to utter a word.

Leaving him there, Lucas lifted the corners of his mouth in triumph.

“I am not like my father. I’m not going to live on a leash anymore.”

Raphael let out a trembling sigh as he faced his son, who was making a firm assertion. His body, which had been tensed up, suddenly relaxed and let out a creaking sound.

“Haha…….”

Lucas’s gaze deepened at Raphael’s weak laughter.

They had finally been able to shake off the old weaknesses that had kept them from standing up to the Empire.

And it was all thanks to Lila. Lucas continued to grow his love for his marked companion more and more.

His heart beat only for her, to the point where he would take his own life if she disappeared.

It was then that Raphael spoke, his voice deep and low.

“Then perhaps…… we can make the territory independent.”

Unlike Duke Frederick, the Dukes of Montefeltra had the power to secede from the Empire.

The reason he hadn’t been able to use that power, left in his oath long ago, was gone.

The corners of Lucas’s eyes crinkled at Raphael’s hard words.

Raphael didn’t answer, but the look on his son’s face said it all, and he clenched his fists tightly.

* * *

It had been two weeks since Raphael had been gone, and the preparations for the wedding were well underway.

“Hmmm…….”

Lila sighed deeply as she looked at the invitation list.

“Do we really have to send invitations to these people?”

They prepared a simple wedding. As she wanted, instead of a grand wedding, they prepared medical kits and cosmetic sets to give as gifts to the people in the northern territories with the funds they had.

Lucas had said he could have kept it simple and given her everything she wanted, but Lila had insisted.

She knew now that the Duke’s wealth was beyond comprehension, but regardless of that, she didn’t want to waste it.

Besides, money spent elsewhere was money saved elsewhere.

By the way…….

“The Crown Prince and the Duke of Frederick, and the Marquis of Beniere, and…….”

The problem was that I had to invite all three of the original male leads, and I also had to send invitations to other nobles as a matter of courtesy.

It was rumored in the capital that the northern winters were harsh. Even with these invitations, there was a chance they might not be able to come.

“Well, we’re having our wedding in the north in the middle of winter. Do you think it’ll be easy to get there?”

They would have to travel by carriage through knee-deep snow. The distance isn’t close, and the road is rough, so Lila puts her worries aside.

“They said they would attend the wedding even from the top of Tenebris. Then, Karen, Amanda, and Gale could come with us at that time.”

Glancing at the list of welcome guests, Lila smiled wryly.

“How time flies. Three weeks from now, it’s the wedding.”

It’s been an eventful time. In less than a year, I hadn’t expected so much to happen.

“Plus, I didn’t think I’d fall in love with Lucas.”

The man who, when she had just arrived at the ducal estate, had been nothing more than an ill-tempered Duke was now the most important person in her life.

And what about Michael?

“I’ve never met anyone so cute.”

He spoke quickly, but his inner thoughts were very deep. He was the first to reach out his hand to her before Lucas, and he helped her with her problems.

“I think we should send out invitations first and mail them to…….”

Normally, she would have sent the invitation sooner, but Lucas talked her out of it. He wanted to send them out as late as possible to cut down on the number of guests.

Lila pressed the beeswax that Lucas had handed her into the circle of the Duchess’s seal.

The cold seal met the hot beeswax, which quickly hardened. A gray wolf was stamped into the wax, a mixture of silver and emerald.

Holding the sealed invitation, Lila gazed out the window for a moment.

On the last day of this year, she would become Lila El Montefeltra.

* * *

Rumors began to spread about a strange roof in the Montefeltra Duke’s garden. The rumors started from the craftsmen who came to the mansion for the wedding preparations.

Lila checked the guest rooms for her guests and stepped out into the garden to rest for a moment.

Her steps were brisk, regardless of the heavy snow still falling.

Sitting down at the tea table Jesise had already set up, Lila looked up.

“This is amazing.”

Under Lucas’s direction, the entire garden and pavilion had been snow-proofed, so a transparent membrane enveloped the garden and pavilion, but nothing could be done about the snow that was piling up on top.

After a few moments of staring at a sky that was nothing but pure white snow, as if she were in an ice cave, Lila lifted her steaming mug of tea.

“Lila!”

Michael called as he emerged from the mansion. Lila greeted him with a smile as she saw him dressed comfortably.

“Jessie, will you bring Michael his share?”

“Yes, madam.”

As they entered the mansion, Jessie bowed to Michael. Michael responded with a wave of his hand and quickly turned to Lila.

Sitting down across from him, she asked.

“Did you come here after finishing your classes?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have to take lessons during the vacation, too?”

“What you learn at the academy is academic achievement, and what you need to learn here are things that are necessary for a successor.”

“Hmm…….”

Wanting to give him a break, even if it was just for vacation, Lila didn’t say anything more at Michael’s words. Instead, she grabbed something else.

“You’re taking the medication I gave you, right?”

“Yes, Lila.”

Lila had given him vitamin D and vitamin C. She could always take them out of the secret pouch and refill them.

Afterward, she noticed that Michael’s freckles had faded considerably. She figured if he kept taking his vitamins, they might fade even more.

he reached out and squeezed Michael’s flabby cheeks. It was cute that he hadn’t lost any weight yet.

“Oh, don’t.”

Michael said, blushing, but Lila’s fingers wouldn’t stop. Just then, Jessie, who had brought fresh tea, set the teapot on the table.

In the absence of any wind, the table shook violently. In an instant, the teapot was tipped over, and a large amount of hot tea spilled out, heading straight for Lila.

“Madam!”

Jessie screamed, her throat tightening at the bizarre sight before her.

Brilliant gold flashed from pink eyes. Black tea floated in the air, glistening in the sunlight that filtered through the snowy roof.

“Auntie, are you all right?”

Michael asked, rising from his seat and grabbing Lila’s hand. She nodded shakily, fumbling to get to her feet.

Nothing happened for a while, catching her off guard. The damned main protagonist’s trials was still ongoing, it seemed.

Lila, who let out a sigh, observed Jessie’s surprised expression. Then she asked Michael,

“What should we do?”

Michael, who was calmer than her, grinned and replied,

“It’s okay. Since she’s my aunt’s person.”

With that, he snapped his fingers. The black tea suspended in the air quickly evaporated and disappeared.

Holding up the empty teapot, Michael turned to Jessie. He covered his lips with a short finger.

“It would be better to bring the tea again, Jessie.”

“…..What? Ah, yes!”

Jessie replied, looking at Michael in a daze, then at the kid’s finger and pressing it vertically to his own lips with a look of determination.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Lila and Michael chuckled at her unspoken repetition of ‘yes, yes,’ not knowing what to make of it.

It was getting close to time for the guests to arrive.

* * *

“Charlotte, are you okay?”

Heinrich asked tenderly as he curled her crimson hair and planted a small kiss on top of her head.

The carriage across the snow was very large, so it could plow through the hard packed snow.

The wheels, with their snow-melting tools, made marks in the snow as they passed.

Charlotte looked up at Heinrich, who was smiling happily at her in his arms, and nodded slowly.

She had often wondered if the Heinrich she knew was really him.

After escaping from Marquis Benière, she believed without a doubt that she could return to her home in Charlotte.

But that was only her wish. Heinrich had locked her in his mansion, like the man who had been handed the baton by Alfonso.

Then, with a face she had never seen before, he pleaded with Charlotte.

‘I told you to please look at me.’

Being trapped made her feel like she was going crazy. Sometimes she couldn’t help but be afraid of Heinrich, who claimed to be giving her things for her own benefit.

And when it came to their relationship, he was persistent. He acted like someone who couldn’t resist the urge….. to leave his mark all over her body.

At first she blushed and felt embarrassed, but not the second time. He ignored her refusal with subtle words and gestures.

“Yes, it’s okay.”

A bright voice that had nothing to do with the worries in her head popped out.

Heinrich, who was looking at the bending gold anklet, immediately lifted his face that had become gloomy due to the lack of response.

“We’ll arrive soon. You wanted to come with me, but as expected, the schedule was difficult. You’ll be able to rest well once we get there.”

He had originally intended to leave her behind. But Charlotte couldn’t let him go alone.

‘I can’t go on like this. I have to be the protagonist, so I can live.’

Charlotte smiled brightly, hiding the poison in her embrace. Heinrich shyly smiled back at her laughter, but he didn’t hide his lascivious gaze.

Charlotte noticed the subtle gap between them.

‘Could this really be the man I knew?’

The question had taken root in her mind ever since he had locked her away.

The carriage rolled along in a blinding downpour of snow.

As if someone was guiding them northward.